


Native

by Sine_Wave_Rider



Category: Gundam SEED
Genre: I guess this is just fluff, sloths, something random I just felt the need to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 05:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7346137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sine_Wave_Rider/pseuds/Sine_Wave_Rider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a short fic based off a random headcanon of mine that sloths are native to the island of Orb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Native

Dusk had painted the sky in streaks of gold, orange and pastel pinks over the water, and a more welcome sight she had never seen. It was always surreal, returning to her homeland after time spent in one of the artificial colonies that orbited the Earth. The salt air was purer, sweeter. And, despite the novelty of zero gravity, she much preferred having her feet on the ground.

  
Water lapped gently at the concrete bank, and the sound was as familiar as it was comforting. Not one to be caught up in sentimentalities, it surprised her sometimes that these simple things, so unique to her home, could have such an emotional weight to them. She had grown up here, along this bank, a little girl skipping and running by the waterside and calling for her father to keep up. She had picked flowers from the plants that sprouted against the odds from between cracks in the pavement, and tucked them behind her hair. She was a princess, but not the kind from the fairytales that she read. No shrinking violent, blushing damsel. She was a warrior queen, with flowers in her hair and an army at her back. At least, that’s how she had imagined it as a child. All that was left of that childhood fantasy now, she realised, was her and her kingdom. Her home.

  
“Ready to go?”

  
Cagalli turned around. The words were stoic, professional, but the warmth behind them was real. Behind her stood the head of her security detail. The princess’s faithful knight.

“A little longer, Athrun.”

He smiled at her, a genuine smile, and the sight of it still made her insides queasy. She didn’t think she could ever see it often enough, for as long as she’d live. He came to stand beside her, and she realised as he walked closer that his footsteps, too, were now a sound that carried weight. A sound that brought with it something like comfort.

“Haro! Haro!”

The little electronic sphere bounced towards them, eyes flashing. This one was a light pastel blue, one of Athrun’s latest projects. He still tinkered with the things all the time, a hobby he’d had since childhood. Cagalli didn’t understand his fascination with the mechanics and electronics, but it didn’t matter. She still liked to see him work.

“Haro! Haro!” Athrun caught the sphere, inspecting it.

“A message from Lacus,” he said, translating what the Haro brought to him. “She says that she and Kira will be at the house soon. We should get back.”

Cagalli nodded. The sun was setting and the air was growing colder, it would be best to head back now. She took one last look over the harbour, and in her mind’s eye she saw the buildings aflame, and the flashes that meant battle taking place in the sky above her, and she had to refrain from shuddering. _Never again_ , she reminded herself.

Sensing the change, Athrun took her hand. He didn’t say anything, and that alone was one of the reasons she loved him. He didn’t say anything when his words weren’t needed, when all she needed was him. Together they began to make their way home. With the edge of the water on one side, and the edge of the forest on the other, she was reminded of how much this strip of pavement truly could be called her paradise.

  
There was a rustle in the trees beside them, like the sound of someone breaking a branch. Athrun, ever on edge, stopped and stood still, silent and motioning for her to be the same. It was probably nothing, but Athrun would say that ‘it was better to be careful than dead because you underestimated something’. He was responsible for her safety, both because of his position and more so because he cared for her, although she would protest the second part.

  
He let go of her hand, and let his hand fall to where he kept his gun, and it hovered there as he crossed into the edge of the forest. She waited, still and silent like him. And, while she would later deny the fact, she felt a sharp pang of fear when she saw his eyes widen and heard him gasp.

“Oh my god.”

But her momentary fear subsided immediately when he turned back to her with an amazed grin.

“Cagalli, come look at this!”

She returned his boyish, innocent smile with a wry smirk of her own when she took a few steps further, and saw the object of his gaze and the source of the strange sounds. She laughed.

“It’s a sloth, Athrun.”

The sloth was hanging from a branch just slightly above their head level, slowly making its way along the branch that held onto. It turned its fluffy, brown head to stare at them, slowly blinking its round, black eyes, before deciding that they were not worth its interest. The sloth turned back to the matter at hand, slowly moving one limb at a time to continue its leisurely pace along the branch.

Athrun continued to stare at it, wide-eyed. “You mean you’ve seen one of these before?” he asked incredulously.

She shrugged. “Well, yeah. They’re native to Orb, Athrun. They’re literally everywhere. In fact, in most places they’re actually regarded as pests, and…” She trailed off when she saw the way his dark green eyes stared at the creature with wonder.

His childhood was not running along the water’s edge with dreams of fairytale fantasy, surrounded by forests, surrounded by birds and fish and trees. He was a boy who lived the entirety of his life in a colony, with steel skies and concrete grounds. His was a childhood of being constantly reminded who he was and who he had to become.

“Didn’t you have any animals in the PLANTs?”

“They genetically engineered some, essential animals needed for sustainability. Birds and insects to pollinate the genetically engineered plants, that kind of thing. But nothing…nothing like this.”

She pitied the young boy who had grown up no glimpses of the ocean or the real sky. She thought that maybe she understood his fascination with the robotic creatures now, like the bird he had once built for her brother. He was compromising on promises of a world he’d never seen.

“Haro! Haro!”

The little blue sphere flashed its eyes at the creature, but the sloth only turned its head momentarily, before once again dismissing the interruption as unimportant.

Cagalli stepped a little closer, and rested her head against his shoulder. “It shouldn’t be here,” she said, referring to the sloth. “We’re so close to the main roads, it must be dangerous for it here. It could get hurt.”

“Can we keep it?”

“What?” She moved away from him and stared at him incredulously. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

He put on a pleading face. “It could get hurt here! You said it yourself.” She frowned, regretting her previous words. “Please, Cagalli? Look at it. Look at its cute little face, and then look me in the eye tell me that keeping it as a pet would be a bad idea.”

She looked at the sloth, and then back at him. “Keeping it as a pet would be a bad idea.”

“Damn.”

He reached a hand out to it, and to his surprise it didn’t shrink away or recoil. Instead, it reached one of its arms out and grasped his fingers, its long claws wrapping around. He turned to her again, with the most pathetic yet endearing look on his face, and she scowled.

“….Fine.”

His look of surprise was comical. “Wait, seriously?”

“You’d better not make me pick up after it! If you want to bring it home, you’re looking after it, alright?” There was no way in hell she was being conned into taking care of a damn sloth.

“I…I never actually thought you’d say yes to that.” Athrun sounded so genuinely surprised.

She shrugged. “It is kind of cute.”

He laughed, and when she heard his laugh she couldn’t help but smile too, because she realised his laugh was the same as the sound of the waves on the bank and the sound of his footsteps, it was a sound that made her feel like she was home.

[](http://s429.photobucket.com/user/chamberofsecrets23/media/IMAG0783_zps8is62inh.jpg.html)


End file.
